Peru (Old ) (2,600) Built 1939
October 16, 2024
October 16, 2024
There have been a handful of times in my life when something has truly stopped me in my tracks and given me a feeling inside that can only be described as being awestruck (not counting spiritual and family matters). When I was a kid walking into Comerica Park to watch the Tigers for the first time. The first time riding the ultralight with one of my uncles flying over our family farm. Going on a historical tour of Boston and seeing so many significant sites in our nation's history. Driving through the hilliest parts of Pennsylvania on a family trip. Each moment came with a sense of overwhelming reverence for the physical space around me for one reason or another. Of all the old gyms I've visited up to this point in my Hoosier gym journey, the only time I was this deeply moved by a place was when I had the chance to stop by the old Lebanon gym this summer. The history and beauty just overtook me. I've walked into dozens of gyms with feelings of nostalgia and appreciation for how incredible these places are, but Lebanon was different. I finally experienced that same sense of wonder a second time when I walked into the old Tig Arena in Peru over fall break.
Driving up to the building, I was actually a little worried. I was genuinely concerned about what kind of condition the gym would be in. I had seen a couple pictures from 15 years ago in Historic Hoosier Gyms by Kyle Neddenriep and it seemed okay, but Father Time really seemed to have taken a toll on the exterior of the structure. Unlike most gyms from this era, the old high school is still standing around the gym. The Miami Nation of Indians has owned it for many years now. They use the old high school as their headquarters, and the gym is primarily used for bingo nights along with the occasional community activity. They do their best like many of the caretakers of these old gems to preserve it, but like all the others, the time and money it takes to do so can be overwhelming. The other aspect that makes this even more difficult at the old Peru gym is the sheer size of it. The entire building feels like it takes up a good portion of the city block it sits on. This is partially what makes it so special, but also what makes it very hard to care for. Ms. Sarah Siders who is on the executive committee was kind enough to let me come in and walk around. Any concerns I had from viewing the outside were instantly quelled once I walked into the gym through one of the corner entrances.
I already had a little background knowledge on the legacy of high school basketball in Peru from my visit to their current gym last season (a place they continue to call Tig Arena which is completely farcical considering the true Tig Arena sits about three blocks away and is superior in every single way. These are the same people who just copy and pasted the Purdue logo onto the center court circle in their new gym though so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by their lack of originality). The best player to ever grace the court I was walking onto was Kyle Macy who not only managed to win Mr. Basketball in 1975, but had a stellar career at Kentucky and played in the NBA for seven seasons. John Garrett. who at 6'11" is the biggest high school player in Indiana I've personally ever read about also had a profound impact on basketball in Peru on his way to being an Indiana All-Star in 1971. Overall they have over 40 sectionals to their name to go along with 4 regional titles. They never managed to make it to the finals, but they had a run of local dominance from the 1920s-50s in the years leading up to teams that the aforementioned greats played on that would stack up against just about any of the other great programs across the state from that era.
Another similarity that this gym shares to the old one in Lebanon is the dramatic entrance you make while walking up the ramps in the corners of the gym. Everything unfolds slowly before you as you make your way up the slope. My eyes went upwards and first noticed how the ceiling has a classic chapel style roofline leading up to a point that travels over the entire length of the court below. Two huge canvas partitions hang above each sideline and also run the length of the court. These are the kind you normally would see in an auxilliary practice gym. I'm not sure what purpose they would serve in an arena with a single court and this much seating around it. The hulking HVAC systems sit high above at the ends of these partitions. When I visited, the whole place was set up for bingo as it usually is. It's clearly a big deal here. That didn't take away from the viewing experience for me at all. It didn't take much to imagine what it would look like set up for a basketball game, even one taking place 50+ years ago. I don't think anything has really been touched since it stopped regularly hosting high school games in the early 90s. The Miami Indian Tribe have added things to suit their needs, but nothing has been painted over or seemingly removed. It's remarkably authentic.
I did a few laps around the giant bowl of seating before I finally made my way to the court and just took it all in. There are about 15 rows of permanent bleachers that work their way around the gym in a continuous loop. Only the corners are shortened to about 5 rows over the entrances. The wooden bleachers sit up a few inches above the concrete on little risers. They've been stained a shade of maroonish black that is very dark and unlike anything I've ever seen. I love them. At this point they're very weathered and gorgeous. The sideline sections of bleachers feel very long and elegant to look at from across the court. At the very top are original long rectangular windows that cover the small area of wall connecting the bleachers to the beginning of the sloped roof. They're some of my favorite old windows I've found that are still intact in any of the old gyms I've been to. The small spaces between the windows are made of cinderblock and some still have the seating section letters still painted on.
This brings me to what I would consider the grandest view in the whole gym, which are the huge walls ascending to the rafters above the seating behind the baselines. They're just plain brown cinderblock, but I can't get over how vast they feel. The gargantuan HVAC system actually frames one baseline wall in a pentagon type shape. I'm not sure if that was intentional, but if not, what a fortunate coincidence. The opposing side has the HVAC system just rising up on both sides like the statues of Argonath looking over the Falls of Rauros (that reference is for the maybe two other people on earth who love both old gyms and Lord of the Rings as much as I do). In the middle are three vertical rectangular strands of frosty, glass cubed, windows that let in more natural light. Both sides now have large bingo boards sitting at the top of the bleachers.
As I made my way down to the court level, I noticed all the red tables that had been added to the bottom couple rows of bleachers around the gym. They look like the modern setups high schools use for reporters in lieu of the old traditional press boxes, but this gym actually has an old press box up in one corner of the stands. I also don't think this set up was common when this gym was hosting high school games on the regular. I should have asked Ms. Siders, but I'm guessing they were added for bingo purposes. One thing that I'm sure is original and that struck me as interesting is that the first row of bleachers on one baseline have "Visiting Players" painted on which indicates that the team benches must have been along the baselines at one point. This wasn't terribly uncommon during the early days of high school basketball, but usually it was necessitated by a gym that had a concrete wall running along the sidelines and there would be no room for a team bench there. That certainly is not the case here. The court was covered with bingo tables when I visited, but you could still see the well-loved and light colored hardwood underneath. Both baskets descend from high above in the rafters on long arms. In one of the four corner entrances to the gym you can find a narrow concession stand that looks like it's old enough to have been used at basketball games and is still currently used for bingo nights.
A frequent question I get when people are first introduced to my blog is what criteria I use to rank all the gyms. It's a very inexact science that I can't really explain very well. This is exactly why I tell people to please not be offended if I rank their gym lower than they think it should be, because I'm the first to admit that all of this is 100% subjective and there's only a handful of places ever I've been to and thought "this place stinks, I don't want to come back." The best answer I can try to give to this question is that when comparing two gyms, I think about which one I would rather watch an important game at. Throw in the unique aesthetics of each place, their unique quirks, and whatever my gut tells me, I go with. The comparison game becomes even more convoluted when comparing old gyms to current ones, but like I told my friend Nic who helped me get this whole project off the ground last November, this internal chaotic process is what makes it all so much fun. Of all the old gyms I've had the pleasure of seeing the last few months, I don't think anyone matches this one in terms of a place I would want to travel back in time to and watch a big game at when it was in its prime. Regardless of what it looks like on the outside, the heart inside of it is unlike anything I've ever experienced.
